1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical instruments and methods, and more particularly, to solid-state microscopy.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional microscopes are heavy and need focus adjustment. The basic structure of a conventional optical microscope includes magnifying lenses and a moveable focusing structure. The focus of the microscope is typically adjusted each time a sample is loaded. When scientists inspect a sample under a conventional microscope, they commonly use a low magnification lens first, then change lenses for a higher and higher magnification. It is a tedious and time-consuming process to place a sample and then focus the microscope on the sample, especially when there are a lot of samples.
In addition, the multi-lens microscope is relatively heavy for some applications, and the best optical microscope can only have a resolution of about one micron due to the wavelength of visible light used to illuminate the sample. However, radiant energy in the X-ray range has a wavelength that is approximately a thousand times shorter than visible light. Thus, an ultra-high resolution, scanning microscope using X-ray illumination has the potential of obtaining a resolution that is a thousand times finer than the best optical microscope.
X-ray radiation is difficult to focus and previous technologies tried to use zone plate techniques, for example, to focus the X-rays. This method required a very precise, single wavelength X-ray source because zone plate techniques are very sensitive to wavelength variations. Further, sub-micron resolution with previous technologies required the use of relatively large, heavy and expensive equipment that necessitated sophisticated sample preparation techniques and control during examination.